Rimmer's Return
by Tom Beasley
Summary: Jack Rimmer returns from Dubai in order to help a disadvantaged Manchester school. He instantly hits difficulties and faces from his past may cause even further problems.
1. Chapter 1: A Shoebox of Memories

Jack Rimmer sighed as he cleared all of the belongings from his polished desk into a cardboard box. He had spent five years as head of Asmul Academy in Dubai, but now he was leaving. The years had been successful as he had elevated the academy to the level of one of the highest achieving educational establishments in the country. However, when he had received an offer from an underachieving secondary school in Manchester, the pull of nostalgia had been too much and he was returning to England.

Even now, five years on, Jack still experienced pangs of homesickness for Rochdale and, specifically, Waterloo Road, the school that he had moulded into his own creation… or tried to. As much as he enjoyed working with the well-behaved, intelligent offspring of Arab businessmen, he still yearned for the challenge of tackling the under-privileged and unruly students of Rochdale's most difficult school.

Worse than that was the guilt he still felt for the death of Izzie Redpath. Despite the extensive medication he had taken after her murder and the hundreds of expensive sessions he had spent with various counsellors since, Jack was still troubled by the experience and often woke up in cold sweats after nightmares featuring the deceased Drama teacher and Jed Seddon, the violent drug dealer who had ended her life so tragically early.

Despite the best efforts of every psychological professional in Dubai, Jack still blamed himself for Izzie's death. Had he not gone in all guns blazing in taking on Seddon, Izzie might still be alive. As these thoughts filled Jack's head, a tear trickled down his stubble-covered face before dropping into his box of belongings, pooling on a photo frame containing a picture of him and ex-fiancée Davina Shackleton.

Jack had never thought of himself as the monogamous type, but Davina was the one woman that he had ever truly loved. Since flying to Dubai, he'd had a number of romantic liaisons, but none had amounted to more than brief flings and, as much as Jack liked casual sex, it was no substitute for his love for Davina.

Composing himself, Jack brought his trip down memory lane to an end and lifted his box of belongings. As he swung open the door of the office with his leg, he took one brief glance back at the polished, neat room he had worked from for half a decade. However lovely it was, clean and polished just did not suit Jack Rimmer.

* * *

Leaving the terminal at Manchester Airport, Jack experienced the familiar chill of the British wind. He had enjoyed Dubai, but this was definitely where he belonged. As he lugged his suitcase over to the waiting taxi, he inhaled a lungful of British air and a wide smile spread across his face.

"You look in good spirits!" remarked the taxi driver as Jack sat down in the back seat and stated the name of the block of flats he was renting in.

"I am, mate," Jack responded jovially. "It's good to be back in the country."

"How long have you been away?"

"Five years in Dubai, teaching the children of people with more money than sense. Some of those kids are so far up their own arse that I could swing for them."

The taxi drive laughed heartily at the comment. "You must be mental to pick this shithole instead of Dubai."

"It may be a shithole," said Jack. "But it's my shithole."

* * *

As Jack turned the key in the door of flat 24 and pushed it open, he immediately noticed that something was wrong. The place was a mess. It had clearly been broken into and wrecked. Toilet roll covered almost every inch of the floor and the wallpaper dangled forlornly from the walls.

He stepped into the kitchen and swore loudly as he saw that the wooden floor was covered in shards of broken crockery. Whoever had done this clearly had a sense of humour though as there was a used mug sat in the sink waiting to be washed.

Jack walked, filled with disbelief, into the lounge. He lowered himself down onto the sofa (with multiple rips in the leather). As he sat down, a loud farting noise punctured the silence. Reaching through one of the rips, Jack extracted a deflated whoopee cushion. He giggled slightly, but his mirth was soon replaced by blind anger as he realised the gravity of what had happened. Reaching around to his back pocket, Jack pulled out his mobile phone and dialled 999.

"Hello, police please," he said to the kindly-voiced woman who answered.

* * *

"Crap!"

Jack looked across at his alarm clock. It was 8:45. He was supposed to have been at his new school fifteen minutes ago. Unfortunately, he didn't have a time machine handy and so he was going to be very late indeed.

He hauled himself off the paper-thin mattress in the cheap B&B room he had been forced to rent. Originally, he had planned to sleep in his wrecked house, but he found his mattress floating in the pond just behind the flats, so he had been forced to call the local B&B. His night hadn't exactly been luxurious and the fact that he hadn't managed to drop off until 5am probably explained his late rising.

Quickly throwing on the suit he had taken from his suitcase before going to bed last night and spraying himself with deodorant, he raced over to the car he had hired before he could buy one of his own.

Fortunately, he found the school as quickly as possible and managed to enter the main building just before the school bell at 9am. The main building was very impressive. This was due to the millions of pounds of government money that they had recently received for refurbishment after an arson attack by a pupil rendered most of the school unusable.

The school had assembled a welcoming committee of pupils for Jack's arrival. As one of the pupils - a tall boy with messy blonde hair like a surfer - approached Jack, the boy extended a hand and Jack took it.

"Welcome to Highway Comprehensive, Mr Rimmer. I'm Danny Sawyer," he said politely. Then, with a wry smile, he added "How was your flat?"

The glint in the boy's eyes as he said this and the ripple of laughter from the rest of the welcoming committee told Jack all he needed to know. It was this boy that had been responsible for trashing Jack's flat yesterday. He had no idea how Danny had known where the flat was, but the way he had spoken just then could not possibly have been a coincidence.

Feeling the red mist descend, Jack clenched his fists and tried not to let the anger overpower him. He hadn't even been here five minutes and he was already contemplating hitting a student.

"Is there something wrong sir?" Danny asked, struggling to stifle his giggles. This tipped Jack over the edge and he grabbed Danny by the collar and pushed him against the wall.

"Mr Rimmer! Is there a problem here?" a female voice said. When Jack spun round and let go of Danny, he saw that the voice had come from a diminutive, elderly woman with glasses.

"This little toerag trashed my flat," Jack bellowed, frustration and anger evident in his tone.

"Regardless of what this young man may or may not have done, your actions are inappropriate."

"And who the hell are you to say what's appropriate?" Jack asked.

"I'm Winona Miller," said the woman. "I'm from the LEA. Which means, Jack, that I'm your boss."


	2. Chapter 2: A Blast From The Past

"So, would you like to explain to me what you were doing holding a pupil against the wall like that?" asked Winona, glaring at Jack with her dark eyes as she peered over her red-framed spectacles.

They were in the office that was originally going to be Jack's, before he had thrown his entire career into question. Winona was sat behind the polished wooden desk as Jack sat in front of her, head in his hands.

"He trashed my flamin' flat. I had to sleep in some sinkhole B&B because of that git." Jack found himself bunching his fists again as the anger built up inside him, threatening to explode out of him once more.

"Mr Rimmer," stated Winona sternly. "We do _not_ tolerate violence of any kind at Highway, so we cannot have a headteacher who openly attacks pupils in corridors."

Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing. It sounded like the LEA were ready to unseat him from his role before he had even started and all because of his fiery temper. Why did kids have to be such bastards?

"Listen," began Jack. "I just lost it. Get Sawyer in here and I'll sort this mess out."

Winona contemplated the request. She hadn't seen much of Jack so far, but she already disliked what she saw. She could not believe that the head of the LEA had sung the praises of this man, who seemed like little more than a common thug. There was no way that she would feel comfortable leaving the school in his hands. She would need to think of a way that she could keep a constant eye on him.

An idea began to form in Winona's head and so she decided to play along with Jack for now. If she had her way, then there was no chance of Jack Rimmer keeping his job for very long. She flashed her glowing white teeth in a brief smile.

"Okay Jack. I'll give you a chance this time. Sawyer has been excused for the rest of today, but he'll be with you first thing tomorrow morning," she said, leaving the room.

As soon as she swung the door closed, she pulled a mobile phone out of her pocket and quickly dialled a number.

"Hello," she muttered as the Head of the LEA answered the phone. "I have a proposal for you."

* * *

Jack could not believe the couple of days he had experienced. It was just like being back at Waterloo Road, only without the warm familiarity that was invoked within him by that school. Everything about Highway Comp was new and so far, he wasn't sure he was going to cope, particularly if the LEA were going to have their noses in his business constantly.

He took a look around his new office. The walls were adorned with a few pieces of abstract art, the filing cabinets sat empty in the corner and his desk was bare except for a computer and a small plaque stating his name and role.

It was an office, but it wasn't yet _his _office.

Dashing out to his car, Jack extracted his shoebox of photos and other paraphernalia. Within a few minutes, the office was looking far more like somewhere that he could work in. Jack reached into the box and pulled out the last item: the picture of him and Davina. He placed it on his desk and was once again consumed by the love he felt for Davina. Despite trying to call her at least once every few months, he hadn't heard from the love of his life for over a year and was really beginning to feel the pain of missing her.

For most of the morning, Jack was forced to sit in his office and not do much. He read through some of the information on the school that he had been given, including details of some of the high-achieving pupils (which were few and far between) as well as the ones that posed a problem (which were everywhere).

The kindly old lady who was serving as his secretary brought him several cups of tea throughout the morning, but Jack yearned for something stronger. He had spotted a pub on his way into school that morning and planned to pay it a visit on his route home to the B&B.

He still hadn't decided what he planned to do about his house. Presumably, he was going to have to either clean the place himself or fork out for some cleaners and decorators to sort the place out as well as replace all of the broken items. It was going to cost an absolute fortune, but Jack wasn't exactly short of money after five years of working in Dubai.

In fact, he had only stayed in such a terrible B&B the night before because there didn't seem to be anything resembling any kind of luxury in the area. The whole area smacked of a low budget, lower class nightmare. Fortunately, those were Jack's speciality.

As he pondered these thoughts, there was a knock at his door and Winona Miller reappeared looking pleased with herself.

"Mr Rimmer, I've just come off the phone with the Head of the LEA. Say hello to your new Deputy!"

As she finished her sentence, Jack looked around behind Winona to see if anyone else was there, but it was just Winona around. Jack felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realised what this meant.

"That's right Jack. It's me." She flashed a mischievous grin. "After your little display this morning, the LEA thought that they ought to implement a Deputy who could keep a proper eye on you and make sure that you stay in line."

Jack was not at all happy about this news, but there was ultimately nothing he could do. Having an LEA worker as his Deputy was a nightmare as far as he was concerned. If there was one thing he valued when leading a school, it was freedom and he would get none of that with Winona breathing down his neck all the time.

Winona decided to break the awkward silence that had fallen. "Would you like me to show you the staff room?" she asked.

"Yes," Jack said with a smile. "Time to meet the troops."

As Jack entered the staff room, he was instantly welcomed by an enthusiastic, balding male who introduced himself as Ronald Jones, Head of English. _Anyone has to be better than Grantly Budgen_, thought Jack with a giggle as he shook Ronald's hand.

Winona led Jack around the room, introducing him to the various staff members of the school as they passed.

"This is Sandra Reynolds, one of our Music teachers." Winona was gesturing towards a gorgeous brunette woman sat on a sofa at the far end of the room. When she heard her name, she rose to her feet and Jack watched as she walked over, her low-cut black top displaying what was surely more cleavage than appropriate with hormonal teenage lads (and Jack) around.

"Hello Sandra, I'm Jack Rimmer."

"Well hello Jack Rimmer. Be sure to drop into one of my Music classes at some point. Maybe I can help you discover some," she paused, "hidden talents."

As she turned and walked away, Jack was left shocked. Usually, such brazen flirting was reserved for when he'd been around a while. It was very unusual for a woman - and an attractive one at that - to be flirting with him before they had even been properly introduced. What sort of school had he come to?

"And last but least," said Winona as she guided Jack over to the small kitchen area where a dark-haired man was pouring milk into a cup of tea. "Our new student teacher."

The teacher turned around. Jack could barely contain his shock as he recognised the face of someone he had hoped never to see again.

"Tea, Mr Rimmer?" asked Brett Aspinall.


End file.
